


Noir Refractions

by UnKnown_Drive



Category: Black Desert Online (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Romance, F/F, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnKnown_Drive/pseuds/UnKnown_Drive
Summary: Two women, both inheriting the power of darkness within them, come from vastly different backgrounds. Their bond is forged from the flames of intense rivalry and affection alike, with one riding the edge of morality, and the other coming from nobility and etiquette. Their fortitude and ideals of love will be tested by each other. This is their story.





	Noir Refractions

**Author's Note:**

> Multi-chapter project currently in limbo, as other works are being prioritized. Very interested in returning to this someday, though~.

All-consuming pale light. Disorientation and a faint sense of loss. A persistent, throbbing pain to remind that one lives.

 

“Ungh… gah...”

 

A young girl, likely in her young twenties, awakens from a bed of grass and dirt. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, her dark appearance clashes against the sleepy forested plains that surround her. An abandoned building to her right, a wooden fence surrounding the building to her left, and a dirt road ahead.

 

“Good, at least you’re not dead”, a warbled voice speaks from vague origin. The high pitch and distorted tones served only to worsen the pain in the girl’s head.

 

“Can you move now?” the voice says, almost beckoning. Reality struggles to take shape in her vision as she struggles to even keep herself standing.

 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine soon. I know you are strong. Aren’t you?” Without sparing a second to allow an answer, it continues: “You haven’t forgotten about our contract, right? I’ll help you now.”

 

“ _Contract?_ ” she thought. “ _At what point did..._ ”

 

Unable to finish the thought because of the pain, she cast it aside and attempted to orient herself by moving around. The blur and glare that filtered the world around her was starting to fade away, and she could begin to make out her new location.

 

“Can you feel my energy? Stop wobbling and center yourself.” The girl swiped at nothing in the air, attempting to stop the patronizing voice to no avail. “O-ho, a feisty one~! You’ll be a great asset to me indeed...”

 

The girl mouthed some kind of vulgar retort, but nothing came out but an indecipherable whisper. She attempted to move towards the nearby road to get away from the voice, but a shock of intense pain and weakness suddenly enveloped her, forcing her to collapse to the ground. Only a few moments passed before she regained control of herself, with the headache returning, but not as intensely as before. She was finally able to think and observe the world somewhat clearly, but her first clear sight was not a pleasant one.

 

A clouded black wisp formed in front of her, with two intense red dots forming from its ether, giving it a semblance of eyes and a face. The girl was taken aback by this incorporeal shape for a second, then stared at it with a mix of confusion and disgust.

 

“Are you okay? It’s time to move on. I know you’re confused, but we’ve got lots of things to do,” the voice implored.

 

“ _We…_ _?_ ” she thought to herself. Whatever this… creature was, she wanted nothing to do with it.

 

“You may be averse to me now,” it said, as if reading her mind, “but trust in me. I will help your power grow, and you to mine as well. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship!”

 

The girl scoffed. She had better things to do than associate with this smug being. A small walk down the road to find a passerby willing to give her directions should lead her back home--

 

Home.

 

Where… where was home?

 

What was home? Who were her family? Who… _who was she?_

 

The girl clutched her head frantically in her attempts to remember her past, but nothing could be recalled. In her anxious frenzy, her right arm started to emit a noxious black fog. She slowly lowered her arm in front of her eyes to observe it and--… why is the right side of her vision partially dark?

 

Is she blind in her right eye?

 

“Starting to realize your amnesia, are you?” the wisp gestured in a coy tone. “Your memories are with me. If you wish to have them returned to you, then you stay with me. I will help you regain both your memories, and your power, back.”

 

The girl shot the wisp with a mixed look of disbelief and rage. She then closed her eyes and turned her head away, accepting her unfortunate fate. Her options were limited; she had no idea where to go, and this creature seemed unable to be touched, let alone killed. She’ll let it be her guide for now, then dispose of it properly when it fulfills its end of its bargain.

 

“By the way, you may refer to me as the Black Spirit. Now that all the formalities are out of the way, why don’t you step over to that abandoned stand across the road? It seems there are some items there that may be useful to you.”

 

Hesitantly, she made her way over to the stand holding her head in her right arm, both to ease the fading headache and to continue trying to remember her past.

 

As she was in the middle of the dirt road, however, she suddenly felt the push of something large against her side, just as her hearing was suddenly made aware of the sounds of clopping and heavy nasal breathing. Briefly knocked off balance, she quickly regained her footing and looked to see who the culprit of the offense was.

 

Mounted on top of an ebony horse, laden with decorations indicative of a wealthy caretaker, was a woman of noble, but unusual appearance, accompanied by two guards in full armor behind her, also on horseback. Her face indicated someone in their mid to late twenties, and she had a hardened look about her. Her hair was a bright, soft orange, with snow white, wavy, asymmetrical locks at the ends. Her right eye was a normal bright green, but her left had a pupil-less, small, blood red appearance, as if it were demonic. The eyes were surrounded by a black, wavy darkness, difficult to tell if it were makeup or something else. And those eyes were looking directly at her, accompanied by a face expressing utter annoyance.

 

“Get out of the way, lowly fool!” she commanded. “Have you no sense of your surroundings?!”

 

Her shouting amplified the pain in her head briefly. Irritating, as it was just starting to fade away for good.

 

“Tch, what’s the matter, drunkard? Dealing with a bad hangover because you lack basic self-control?” The woman continued to taunt.

 

Something about being called the word “drunkard” hit a nerve with the girl. Hard. Completely ignoring the headache now, she shot a permanent, unmoving death glare at the woman.

 

The woman helped herself to a short laugh, as if proud of the fact that she angered this stranger. Oddly, her expression changed to normal after, and she got off the horse as if to make her way towards the girl.

 

“My lady,” one of her accompanying guards advised, “we don’t have time to waste on this--”

 

The woman simply raised her hand up, her back still turned to him, and the guard quickly silenced himself. Walking over to the girl, she stated with a slightly frustrated sigh, “Well, come on, then. Let’s get you to the side of the road so that you can take a minute to regain yourself.” She then grabbed the girl’s upper arm and started to walk towards the roadside, forcefully gesturing her to follow.

 

The girl violently threw her arm from the woman’s grip, attempting to swipe at the woman’s face. The woman was taken off-guard, but evaded the attack in time. The guards behind her quickly readied their spears and dismounted their horses in response to the attempted strike. The woman simply stared at the girl for a moment, then returned the glare the girl’s been giving her for so long.

 

“You’re unarmed and disoriented, and yet you attempt to harm me? Do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into?” she threatened with venom in her voice. Her guards rushed to her side, spears extended and at the ready. “You may have made the work mistake of your life, peasant!”, one of the guards exclaimed.

 

The girl stayed silent, her murderous glare unwavering. She started to tighten her fists in preparation for combat, and the black fog from earlier returned, exhuming not only from her arm, but from her entire body.

 

“Ah! A sorceress!”, one of the guards shouted.

 

“Hmph… a witch of the battlefield.” The woman regained a calm composure, and commanded to her guards, “This one is but gutter trash. Make her death quick and painless.” She waved her hand in dismissal while her guards quietly nodded, and walked away to let her envoys complete their task.

 

“My my, quite a situation you’ve gotten yourself in so soon after your sudden slumber,” the Black Spirit chimed in. “I was going to ease you in to fighting by directing you to nearby villagers who may need your assistance, but evidently you enjoy a challenge. I’ll let this be your opportunity to prove your strength to me, then. Enjoy yourself~!”

 

The girl ignored every word from the Spirit. All that mattered to her was exacting catharsis on the woman ahead of her.

 

Both guards lunged their spears at the girl’s chest, but they were met with hands gripping the wood just below the spears’ blades before they could meet their mark, followed up by a forcible deflection aside. Using this window of opportunity, the girl lunged at one of the guards, grabbed the collar of his armor, lifted him up, then threw him to the ground with such strength to make him mimic a stone skipping across water.

 

The other guard quickly got his footing back, and revved up a hard downward strike with his spear. The girl simply looked at it incoming, then just as the blade was about to collide with her head, she punched and snapped the wood far enough down the spear to make the blade fly off and miss completely. Before he could even process what happened, she zoned in on him and unleashed a large black claw from her hand, ripping at him with enough force to launch him upward into the air and partially break off his chest armor. He fell with a resounding thud, his body twisting in agony from the ground collision and torn skin.

 

With the nuisances taken care of, her gaze returned to the woman, who was simply watching quietly with her arms crossed. Seeing that she underestimated her foe, she closed her eyes, smiled to herself, then walked out in the open to challenge the vicious girl. Lifting both arms gracefully into the air, she gently traced a long, wickedly curved greatsword from thin air, then swiped the air with it hard enough to cause a strong gust. Slowly assuming a battle stance, she simply stated,

 

“So be it.”

 

The girl was ready to rip into her flesh, but the guard that she threw aside earlier somehow managed to recover enough strength not only to stand, but rush over to the woman and block her way with his spear.

 

He shouted and pleaded, “My lady, this is a foe we’ve clearly underestimated! We can’t risk permanent injury or losing our lives here when our people need us! When we meet with our officials, they’ll see the damage we’ve incurred and send out a team to hunt her down and dispose of her. Let’s retreat and let them take care of it. Please my lady, your safety matters most above all!”

 

The girl rushed at the woman, but the guard quickly responded with a wide slash to fend her off, shakily shouting “Not this time!” The girl dodged back in time to avoid any damage.

 

The woman looked at the guard, then at the girl. After a moment of consideration, she lowered her blade and said “Fine. Mount your horses, then. Both of you.”

 

The guard the girl clawed stood himself back up on shaky legs, holding his side to apply pressure to some of the bleeding, and limped carefully over to his mount. The other guard stood steadfast to block the girl’s way with spear extended, but the woman gestured with her head to implore him to follow her order. Not letting down his spear, he obliged and slowly made his way over to his mount.

 

Immediately, the woman raised her sword fully extended at the girl with one arm, to prevent her from trying another approach.

 

Without hesitation, she stated, “Evine. Remember my name. The next time we meet, I’ll kill you.”

 

With a snap of her fingers, a dark explosion erupted in front of the girl, the blast flooring and disorienting her. By the time she recovered, Evine and her guards were already on their horses out of range and quickly escaping view by way of cover from the trees.

 

The girl simply tightened her fist, and said out loud to herself “Evine...”

 

The Black Spirit manifested itself in front of her again. “Goodness, I thought the cat had your tongue.”

 

“Shut it,” the girl snapped.

 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that yet. Now then, you have proven your strength to me, but if you’re done picking fights with opponents far stronger than you, I suggest you follow my guidance so that we may become strong enough to take her down. There’s a village called ‘Olvia’ not far from here that has some villagers that can help you get started on your adventure. Start there, I’ll direct you to where to go.”

 

“Oh,” the Spirit quickly amended, “also, make sure you grab those potions in that stand you never made your way over to. You’ll be needing those.”

 

Begrudgingly, she went over and grabbed the healing and mana potions, then started her path toward Olvia. As she was, she ruminated on the fight from earlier. Even though she has no recollection of possessing such dark powers and combat skill, everything felt like natural muscle memory. It’s as if she’s done this many times before.

 

And it felt good. _Really_ good.

 

“Shame, though,” the Spirit interjected. “With that kind of power, she would have made a formidable ally.”

 

She held up her arm once more, and watched the black fog dance around it, as if excited that it felt the rush of causing agony upon others again. Closing her hand, she thought to herself…

 

“ _Wouldn’t be as fun that way.”_

 

 

 

_**Chapter 1 End** _


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